Red Flag Warnings Blanket Five Northern Rockies and Plains States
Critical fire weather triggered Red Flag Warnings across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and the Dakotas on Sept. 10, capping an active season in the region.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Rapid City responded to 689 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Dec peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $15.4M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 828 | — | |
| 2022 | 563 | -32.0% | |
| 2023 | 496 | -11.9% | |
| 2024 | 538 | +8.5% | |
| 2025 | 689 | +28.1% |
For the 80 building fires Rapid City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 762 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 102 | 13.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 80 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 58 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 55 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 36 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 33 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 31 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 27 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 24 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 23 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 293 | 38.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Rapid City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 232 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 77 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 64 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 59 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 56 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 50 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 24 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 135 | 17.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rapid City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 59% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $224,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $90,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $53,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rapid City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
34 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 309,073 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 83,508 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 54,023 | 24.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33,000 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 18,815 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 14,990 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 12,443 | 11.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 11,740 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,589 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 9,886 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 7,462 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 5,448 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,000 | 14.7 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rapid City.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.